73M -

I'm not aware of a time that NBC had Harriers.
I mean they came down to train but none were ever stationed there that I know of.

USMCFLYR

 

This would have been early 70's, and I was a youngster. I guess I saw them so much overhead and at airshows I assumed they were stationed there. These were the days when you could SIT in an F4 One rule - don't touch anything yellow or black, which ruled out everything.

My buddies and I could ID the F4, A4, and AV8 by engine sound (of freedom) overhead.

Thanks for the correction!

73M

 

I was stationed in Europe in 1992 after Gulf War One. Zweibrucken Air Base (an RF-4C base) was closed by BRAC. But: after the airplanes were gone, they (German contractors) still re-paved the runway!! Why? The contract was signed before the BRAC, and could not be terminated. And over a year later, when it was done? We weren't allowed to land there! Ach du himmel!

Rick:

I'm not sure what McCain is saying (haven't read it), but I would guess he is correct. They were grounded for 6 months due to the accident in Alaska...an investigation which has just been re-opened.

There are things I know of I don't want to post on a forum, but the Air Force has publicly announced they are basing 20 T-38As at both Langley and Tyndall to support F-22 flying.

My guess is not so much the ability to maintain them but the cost. My estimate is $25,000 a flight hour. Contrast with Vipers at about $6-7k, Hornets about $8-10, Supers $11-12k, and Eagles $15k. T-38s: $3-4k. (All my estimates; nothing official).

 

And the reason why those defense contractors are doing such good business right now. MUCH, MUCH cheaper to pay for red air support rather than pay for it out of hide.

73M - Yeah the early Harriers were around then, but as far as I recall they have always been stationed at the light attack bases (being NKT on the east coast) where the A-4s were stationed. Even Beaufort didn't have A-4 stationed there except for the detachment of aggressors with the HAMS squadron.

USMCFLYR

 

The AF blamed the AK crash squarely on the pilot as of a few days ago.

McCain was complaining about on Mx hassles and costs, not specifically the O2 gen issue.

 

I've lost quite a few peers to hypoxia - some known, others assumed.
Not knowing, but obviously guessing, that there are clear Immediate Action items for an O2 failure.
These types of losses are awfully hard to take.
As an aside - I once heard of a person actually dying of asphyxiation when he had an O2 system failure when he could have just released the mask obviously.
The comments at the end of this article are more of the trash commonly seen when making comments about something they know nothing about.

Air Force Blames Oxygen-Deprived Pilot in F-22 Crash - ABC News

USMCFLYR

 

Agreed on all points. To tack on, wouldn't it be cheaper to fly T-38's or T-6's everywhere instead of EVERY MWS? Why just certain ones? I've been thinking about this for years now. Why put so many hours and man-hours on B-52's and MX when you could keep basic currency and fly T-6's or 38's?

 

He was not rated nor a pilot. Very sad situation. But a trained aviator would've easily fixed the problem.

 

The guy I was flying with last week is a former B-52 pilot. He was telling me stories about flying the T-37s for currency in the late 70s and I'm sure the program has been around (maybe comes and goes) for quite some time. Not sure about the question as too why not EVERY MWS, but at least in the F/A world we didn't have just currency sorties (unless you counted bounce periods for carriers ops), but every other sortie was MWS specific trainng so it couldn't necessarily be accomplished in another airframe.

Yes - I heard that he was rider. A very sad and avoidable situation to be sure. As thorough as the pre-flight briefings are with both the pilot and the flight support people I'm more inclined to think that panic was major factor rather than lack of knowledge. After I heard that story, I made sure that my backseat riders knew how to put on/take off the mask. A few would make some remark until I related the story I had heard.

USMCFLYR

 

Your a smart man. People don't understand until they get back from one of these incentive rides just how much we put our bodies through. Panic is easy if you've not been trained and acclimated.